LIFE.com: Banned in China!

Time Travel

On March 31, 2011, China's department for media said that TV shows using time travel as a plot device “lack positive thoughts and meaning," and strongly discouraged time travel in screen fiction -- just short of an outright ban. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

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On March 31, 2011, China's department for media said that TV shows using time travel as a plot device “lack positive thoughts and meaning," and strongly discouraged time travel in screen fiction -- just short of an outright ban. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

For the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Chinese authorities forbade 7-year-old Yang Peiyi (pictured) from singing the anthem Ode to the Motherland, and instead had her rendition lip-synched by the more photogenic Lin Miaoke.(AFP/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

Mao's home province of Hunan outlawed inferior Mao souvenir figurines and statues made of plastic or plaster in 2010, saying they chipped and deformed too easily. It also required Mao memorabilia to bear a close resemblance to the leader. (AFP/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

In 2000, concerned that Chinese youth would waste their time on frivolous entertainment, the government banned the sale of game consoles such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and the Wii -- which, ironically, are made in China. (Alex Grimm/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

In February 2011, Chinese authorities nixed a planned U.S. tour for a 4,000-year-old mummy dubbed the "Beauty of Xiaohe." No reason was given, but observers speculated that it had to do with the mummy's Caucasian features and continuing debate over who first settled China's western Xinjiang region, a hotbed of separatist sentiment. (MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures

When the Dalai Lama suggested in 2007 that he might pick his successor instead of letting Tibetan monks find the next Dalai Lama after his death, the Chinese-appointed official who governs Tibet was furious. After all, Beijing has long wanted to replace the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet with their own choice. "We must respect the historical institutions and religious rituals of Tibetan Buddhism," Padma Choling said. "I am afraid it is not up to anyone whether to abolish the reincarnation institution or not." (Mario Tama/Getty Images/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures